In the falling season
With nearly 80 trees in An Phuoc plum garden, Mr. Nguyen Van Tam (Thot Not district, Can Tho city) said that this used to be a fruit that brought a stable source of income for his family. High productivity plus early in the season, the growing area was not large, so plums were easy to consume and were priced at, ranging from 16,000 - 18,000 VND/kg.
In recent years, when the plum growing area has been expanding and the output has increased sharply, Mr. Tam and many other farmers in the region often encountered a crop failure.
"If flies used to be a problem, now what we care about most is the output of plums. By applying curtain covering techniques, farmers can somewhat control pests and diseases that attack plums. But before we can celebrate because of the high fruit yield, the price of plums is unstable, sometimes only 5,000 - 6,000 VND/kg, or even lower, making it difficult for us to consume, said Mr. Tam.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hoang - Head of the Tan Loc Ward Pime Cooperation Team (Thot Not District, Can Tho City) - said that the current plum growing area in Thot Not District is more than 1,400 hectares with an output of 65,000 tons. In recent years, plum farmers have often encountered crops falling in price.
Faced with this situation, Mr. Hoang hopes to find a new direction for plums to ensure output and increase profits for farmers.
"Severe and durian are being exported at high and stable prices. We hope that the plum will also be consumed for export to increase value. If we can export, we really need the support and guidance of the local agricultural sector, Mr. Hoang shared.
To allow plums to be officially exported
Sharing at the seminar "Some notes in producing fruit trees for export", Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City - informed that plums are one of the crops that the city's agricultural sector is very struggling with. Although the yield is extremely high, averaging about 40 - 50 tons/ha, the value is quite unstable.
In early 2025, a working group of the City People's Committee visited and worked with a business in Thot Not district. Currently, this enterprise has started to buy and export plums to the Chinese market. The plums after purchase will be pre-processed and frozen. Through the process of exchanging and visiting, the inherent limitation of plums, which is fruit rabies, has been basically overcome.
Accordingly, the Department of Agriculture of Can Tho City has recommended that the Gardeners' Association and the Fruit and Vegetable Association pay attention to supporting the development of key plum growing areas, which is the first step of official export in the preliminary processing stage. Thereby, creating conditions to promote production and consumption of plums.
It is known that in recent times, the City's agricultural sector has connected many businesses to promote plum consumption, but one of the difficult points is the issue of food safety and hygiene (FSH) due to the handling of the effects of flies and fruits, the process of intensifying the 1 year and 4 crops...
To overcome this situation, in the coming time, the City's Department of Agriculture recommends that farmers balance chemical and organic fertilizers to ensure quality and food safety.
